Remember when you were little and your mom would hound you about coloring ONLY on the paper?Remember when you became your mother and started saying those same things?

Well… I have been going against the grain in my classroom and I let my students write on the tables occasionally.

(working on contractions)

They LOVE it.

You would have thought we were eating whipped cream right out of a can the first time I let them do it. Now, if something is difficult they say, “can we try this on the table?” and for some reason… it suddenly becomes easier.

Last week we were working on comparing and contrasting. To make this more hands on we started talking about what we know about animals. Then I had my students pair up into groups and come up with a list of as many animals as they could think of in one minute.

I wrote some of their animals on index cards as they were saying them.

Students then read a non fiction story about animals in pairs.

Then I had two students pick one index card and we created a Venn Diagram of those two animals on the board. (The animals were also featured in the reader so students knew facts about each one.)

After this, the student groups took two index cards and created Venn Diagrams on their tables.

(At each table there was a plastic cup with a wet wipe and another cup with tissues in it– the students used these if they made a mistake.)

They really enjoyed this activity and the conversations as they were working were priceless.

6 Comments

I’ve let them write on our Guided Reading table, but I’ve never had them do it with small group activities at their tables. Great idea! It’s amazing how exciting an activity becomes when we let them write on the table. ;0)

We also LOVE writing on the table. 🙂 We use it everyday in Guided Reading…it’s easier than getting their boards out. Hahaha. The Venn Diagrams are AWESOME. I bet putting it on the table made it that much more engaging. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!!

6 Comments

I’ve let them write on our Guided Reading table, but I’ve never had them do it with small group activities at their tables. Great idea! It’s amazing how exciting an activity becomes when we let them write on the table. ;0)

We also LOVE writing on the table. 🙂 We use it everyday in Guided Reading…it’s easier than getting their boards out. Hahaha. The Venn Diagrams are AWESOME. I bet putting it on the table made it that much more engaging. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!!

Leave a Comment

Never Miss A Post!! Subscribe to the blog via e-mail

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address

Hi! I'm Kristen and I have been an early childhood teacher for 13 years. I currently teach kindergarten at a private Christian school in Austin, Texas. My passion is creating fun, engaging and inspiring lessons for my students and then sharing them with you! I strive to integrate science and social studies into all aspects of my classroom. I hope you enjoy my blog. Please let me know if you have questions or comments.